Wire pigtailing device



g 1, 1967 J. A. FIELDING 3,333,609

WIRE PIGTAILING DEVICE Filed Jan. 29, 1965 Inventor JOSEPH ALEXANDER FIELD/N6 by ZMMM United States Patent 3,333,609 WIRE PIGTAILING DEVICE Joseph Alexander Fielding, 129 Louisa St., St. Cathariues, Ontario, Canada Filed Jan. 29, 1965, Ser. No. 428,982 6 Claims. (Cl. 140-119) The present invention relates generally to wire pigtailing devices and has particular application to such devices intended for effecting mechanical as well as electrical connection between wire conductors.

The device of the invention is intended primarily for use in making mechanical connections between telephone wires preliminary to the conventional electrical connection as by soldering. Such wires are often located underground and it will readily be understood that in these circumstances the device may well be required to make many hundreds of wire pigtails in the course of a day in relatively confined locations.

Accordingly it is a broad object of the invention to provide an improved portable and compact wire pigtailing device for use in confined locations which is of simple construction, durable and reliable in use and economical to produce, said device being in the form of a tool receivable in the chuck of a drill or other like portable machine.

It is a related object of the invention to provide an improved wire pigtailing device in which wire ends are quickly insertable and simultaneously accurately locatable prior to formation of a pigtail and from which they are quickly releasable after a pigtail has been formed.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a wire pigtailing device as aforesaid wherein at least one pair of wire ends is automatically guided into a desired side-by-side relationship upon insertion therein and is re tained in said relationship while being rotated to twine the wires around each other and form a pigtail.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a wire pigtailing device which is a unitary structure and is shaped to guide and retain wire ends as aforesaid.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a wire pigtailing device as aforesaid which is operable to form pigtails in wires of a wide range of gauges.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a wire pigtailing device as aforesaid wherein a pair of wire ends inserted therein is automatically guided according to the gauge of the wires into the appropriate location within the device wherein they are retained in a desired side-by-side relationship preparatory to rotation thereof to twine the wires around each other and form a pigtail.

The foregoing and other objects are achieved in accordance with the invention by the provision of a wire pigtailing device comprising an elongated tool having a rectilinear axis about which it is rotatable in a portable power drill or equivalent and an axial passageway within said tool rendering it tubular for a portion of its length. The passageway includes a flared mouth opening at one extremity of the tool and a blind socket spaced from said extremity and intersecting the tool axis for housing in side-by-side relation at least two ends of wires to be pigtailed. The flared mouth and the socket have walls continuous with and merging smoothly with each other to guide wire ends through said mouth into the socket, which is narrowed in one direction transverse to the tool axis to retain the wire ends substantially in the side-by-side relation which they assume on entering the socket and thereby to compel the wires to twine around each other and form a pigtail when the tool is rotated.

The passageway may include a plurality of successive 3,333,609 Patented Aug. 1, 1967 constrictions defining sockets of progressively decreasing size, said sockets being respectively sized to house wire ends of different gauges.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be specifically set out or will be obvious from the ensuing description of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partly broken away to show otherwise hidden internal detail, of a wire pigtailing device in accordance with the invention with a pair of wire ends housed therein preparatory to a pigtailing operation;

FIGS. 2 and 3 are enlarged scale sections respectively on the lines IIII and III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view of the pigtailing device of the invention on the line IV-IV of FIG. 2 but showing three wire ends being guided thereinto;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view of the pigtailing device of the invention on the line V-V of FIG. 2 and on the same scale as FIG. 1, showing a pair of wires in two positions during insertion thereof into the tool;

FIG. 6 corresponds to FIG. 5 but shows the wires after a pigtail has been formed therein, and

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of a modified form of a pigtailing device in accordance with the inven tion.

A pigtailing device in accordance with the invention is shown in FIG. 1 operatively positioned in the chuck 2 of a slow-speed electric drill indicated in chain dotted lines.

The pigtailing device essentially comprises an elongated tool 4, the internal structure of which is clearly visible in the sectional views of FIGS. 2-6. As shown the tool 4 has a rectilinear axis A about which it is rotatable, by means of the chuck 2 for example, and an axial passageway 6 therewithin rendering it partially tubular. The passageway 6 is constricted to provide a blind socket 8 intersecting the axis A for housing in side-by-side relation at least two ends 10 of wires 12 to be pigt-ailed.

The passageway 6 opens at one extremity 13 of the tool 4 in a flared mouth 14 while the socket 8 is spaced from said extremity. The socket 8 is also narrowed in one transverse direction to retain the wire ends 10 in the side-by-side relation which they assume on entering the socket 8. As will be obvious, when the tool 4 is rotated with the wire ends 10 located in the socket 8 the wires 12 will be compelled to twine around each other and form a pigtail 16 as shown in FIG. 6.

It is noteworthy at this stage that the wire ends 10 to be pigtailed are frequently formed by wire cutters which leave a jagged, pointed or chisel tip on said ends, shown especially in FIG. 4. For this reason the interior of the passageway 6 must be perfectly smooth-particularly for wires forming an electrical connection. Such wires are frequently made of copper and hence very malleable and would be prone to deflection, buckling and the like as a result of the tips snagging within the passageway.

Moreover since the movement of the wire ends 10 within the passageway 6 is not normally visible, accurate guidance thereof into the socket '8 is necessary in order to avoid imperfect pigtailing which, at best, may have to be redone entailing further cutting and shortening of the wires as well as a waste of time.

For these reasons the wall of the flared mouth 14 which is itself smoothed, is continuous with and merges smoothly with the walls of the socket 8 as shown in FIG. 4 which socket.

It should be understood that whereas in the presently preferred embodiment the tool 4 is rotatable by means of an electric drill and is provided with a shank 18 shaped and dimensioned for gripping by the chuck 2 of such a drill, this is merely one examplary mode of effecting the desired rotational movement of the tool and that it is quite conceivable that the tool 4 may be rotated by other means to procure pigtailing of wires as described above.

In the present embodiment the passageway 6 terminates at the end thereof remote from the mouth 14 in a wall 20 extending transversely of the axis A. The blind socket 8 is defined by the wall 20 and by two pairs of walls 22 and 24 which are respectively broad and narrow in the direction transverse to the axis A as best shown in FIG. 3. The walls in each of said pairs are preferably parallel to each other. More specifically the walls 24 are spaced from each other a distance D which is at least slightly greater than twice the gauge g of a wire to be pigtailed, so as to accommodate there'between at least tWo of said wires inside-by-side relation as shown, while the walls 22 are spaced from each other a distance d which is greater than the gauge g but less than twice said gauge. It will be clear that by reason of the spacing of the pairs of Walls 22. and 24 described above a pair of wire ends 10 can be accommodated in side-by-side relationship between the walls 22 but that one of said ends cannot pass between the other said end and an adjacent wall 22 as it would tend to do if the tool 4 were rotated. It is this feature that enables the tool 4 to form a pigtail 16 in the wires 12 although, of course, the cross-section of the socket 8 may depart from the strictly rectangular shape illustrated. Moreover although only two ends have been shown in the socket '8 in FIG. 3 the distance D may be sufliciently great to permit the insertion of three or even more wire ends in the socket 8 in side-by-side relation.

FIG. illustrates in full line a pair of wire ends 10 partially inserted. in the tool 4. It will be noted that the ends 10 may initially be spaced apart in the direction of the width of the tool 4 and that the wires 12 may be somewhat bent whereby the ends 10 when introduced into the mouth 14 impinge upon the flaring wall thereof. It should also be noted that the ends 10 at this stage may be spaced apart in the direction of the length of the tool 4. As the wires 12 are pushed in the direction of the arrow 25 the wall of the mouth 14 causes the wire ends 10 to move towards each other transversely of the tool 4 until they are in close proximity to each other and can be introduced without difficulty into the socket 8 in side-by-side relation by reason of the previously described smooth merging of the mouth wall into the walls 22 and 24 of the socket. Insertion of each end 10 into the socket 8 is limited by abutment thereof against the wall and it will be understood that the wall 20 may serve to align the ends 10 as suggested by the broken line representations in FIG. 5 since each wire 12 may be pushed'manually into the throat until its end 10 abuts against the wall 20. Thus in the finished pigtail 16 the ends 10 form a neat, relatively blunt terminal without loose, lateral-1y projecting wires which might constitute a hazard, and do not require to be,

trimmed off to finish. the pigtail.

In operation, after insertion of the wire ends 10 in the socket 8 as described the tool 4 is rotated by means of the drill chuck 2. Since the. ends 10 are held in substantially the same side-by-side relationship by the socket 8 during such rotation the wires 12 are caused to twine round each other adjacent the ends 10 and thus form the pigtail 16 which comprises a short length of the other wire. Once the pigtail has been formed the wire ends 10 can be easily and quickly withdrawn from the, tool 4 since they are not restrained against axial movement relative to the tool.

It will be appreciated that the tool 4 illustrated in FIGS. 1-6 may be used to form pigtails in wires of any gauge, providing that the sum of the gauges of two of said wires is greater than the distance d but less than the distance D and it is even possible that two wires of different gauges may be pigtailed together thereby in such circumstances.

However an even more versatile embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 7 which is a longitudinal sectional view of a pigtailing tool 4a. The tool 4a is generally similar to the tool 4 but is provided internally with a passageway 6a including a plurality of constrictions defining sockets 8a, 8b and 8c of progressively decreasing size located between a flared mouth 14a and an end wall 20a, and each intersecting the tool axis A.

Each of the sockets Sa-c has proportions similar to those of the socket 8 but each is sized to house or accommodate, in the fashion previously described in connection with the socket 8, wires of a selected gauge or range of gauges different from the gauge or range of gauges which can be accommodated by the other sockets. For example the socket 811 may accommodate wire of 16-18 AWG, socket 8b of 19-22 AWG and socket 8c of 24-26 AWG.

To interconnect the sockets -8a-c the passageway 6a includes flared portions 26 and 28 which are respectively disposed between and merge smoothly with the sockets 8a and 8b, and 8b and 80. It may be added at this point that the wall of the mouth 14a is continuous with and merges smoothly with the walls of the socket 811. The function of the flared passage portions 26 and 28 is twofold. First they serve to guide wire ends 10 from one socket to the next in substantially the same way as the mouths 14 and 14a guide said ends into the sockets 8 and 8a. Secondly they serve as abutments for wire ends 10 which are of a gauge too large to permit their passing into the next smaller socket and thereby perform the same wire end aligning and locating function as is carried out by the walls 20 and 20a in respect of wire ends in the sockets 8 and '80 respectively. For example in FIG. 7 two wire ends 10 are shown in side-by-side relation in the socket 817 and it will be noted that the ends abut against the inclined side wall of the flared passageway portion 28 connecting the sockets 8b and 8c and are thereby prevented from entering the next smaller socket 80.

Obviously if the wire ends 10 shown in FIG. 7 were of a somewhat smaller gauge they could be pushed through the flared portion 28 and guided thereby into the socket-8c. By this means any pair of wire ends 10 thrust into the passageway 6a are automatically located in the socket 8a, 812 or l8c appropriate to their gauge, unless they are of such widely differing gauges as to render them unsuitable for pigtailing.

To sum up the pigtailing device of the invention provides a tool 4 or 4a in which the ends 10 of wires 12 to be pigtai-led are rapidly and easily insertable and locatable in the desired position for rotation with the tool in sideby-side relation to effect pigtailing of the wires 12, and from which the completed pigtail is quickly withdrawable.

Although two embodiments of the invention have been described herein by way of illustration it will be understood that the invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described and that many modifications thereof will be obvious to a person skilled in the art, all such modifications falling within the scope of the claims now following.

What I claim is:

1. A wire pigtailing device comprising:

an elongated tool having an axial passageway rendering it tubular for a portion of its length; said passageway including a flared mouth opening at one extremity of said tool and a co-axial socket remote from said extremity and accessible through said mouth for twistably engaging at least two ends of Wires to be pigtailed;

said flared mouth and said socket having walls continuous with and merging smoothly with each other to guide said wire ends through said mouth into said socket;

said socket being of substantially uniform cross section throughout its depth and narrowed in one transverse direction.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

said socket is substantially rectangular in cross-section.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein:

said socket walls include two pairs of opposed walls;

the walls of one of said pairs being spaced from each other approximately twice the distance between the walls of the other pair of said walls.

4. A wire pigtailing device as claimed in claim 1 including:

a plurality of constrictions in said passageway providing a succession of additional sockets of progressively decreasing size co-axial with and accessible through the first for twistably engaging at least two ends of wires to be pigtailed;

each said socket being of substantially uniform crosssection throughout its depth and narrowed in one transverse direction;

said sockets being respectively sized to engage as afore- 2 said wire ends of different gauges.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 wherein:

said passageway includes flared portions disposed be tween and merging smoothly with said sockets.

6. A device as claimed in claim 4 wherein:

the smallest of said sockets is blind;

said passageway being shaped between said sockets tc prevent wires engaged in one of said sockets from passing into the next smaller socket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 340,962 4/1886 Stubbe 140-119 XR 1,044,551 11/1912 Lyn-ch 140'123 1,717,085 6/ 1929 Bennett 140-419 I 1,789,091 1/1931 Williamson 1401 19 2,199,113 4/1940 Peirce. 2,577,300 12/1951 Ben-bow et al. 140123 2,743,502 5/1956 Reck 140118 XR 3,168,118 2/1965 Holman 140118 WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner. 

1. A WIRE PIGTAILING DEVICE COMPRISING: AN ELONGATED TOOL HAVING AN AXIAL PASSAGEWAY RENDERING IT TUBULAR FOR A PORTION OF ITS LENGTH; SAID PASSAGEWAY INCLUDING A FLARED MOUTH OPENING AT ONE EXTREMITY OF SAID TOOL AND A CO-AXIAL SOCKET REMOTE FROM SAID EXTREMITY AND ACCESSIBLE THROUGH SAID MOUTH FOR TWISTABLY ENGAGING AT LEAST TWO ENDS OF WIRES TO BE PIGTAILED; SAID FLARED MOUTH AND SAID SOCKET HAVING WALLS CONTINUOUS WITH AND MERGING SMOOTHLY WITH EACH OTHER TO GUIDE SAID WIRE ENDS THROUGH SAID MOUTH INTO SAID SOCKET; SAID SOCKET BEING OF SUBSTANTIALLY UNIFORM CROSS SECTION THROUGHOUT ITS DEPTH AND NARROWED IN ONE TRANSVERSE DIRECTION. 